Webb Simpson, USGA pumped for return to Merion for U.S. Open

HAVERFORD, Pa. -- Webb Simpson can't wait to get to Merion Golf Club's historic East Course to defend his U.S. Open title beginning June 13.

Simpson, a 27-year-old native of North Carolina, teed it up in the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion, which was the course's test run to determine if it could still hold up to the best players in the world, with an eye toward having the U.S. Open return for a fifth time.

"I tell people all the time, it's my favorite golf course in the world," Simpson said at Monday's U.S. Open Media Day gathering via Skype, his U.S. Open trophy propped proudly next to his face. "A lot of the courses we play are just a bomber's paradise, but Merion's the opposite."

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Simpson felt the same way about the Olympic Club's Lake Course a year ago. While all the other challengers fell by the wayside in the final round, Simpson ran off four birdies on the final 13 holes to earn a one-shot victory over 2010 Open champion Graeme McDowell and Michael Thompson. It was the same Michael Thompson who had ousted Simpson in the first round of match play at the 2007 U.S. Amateur at Olympic.

"I lost to Michael Thompson in that Amateur and people might think I might not like the course because of that, but I loved the course," Simpson said. "It's the same with Merion."

Many thought that the U.S. Open had passed Merion by. The East Course hosted the national championship in 1934, 1950, 1971 and 1981. And while the golf course has been lengthened to the 6,996 yards it will play for this year's Open, the biggest hurdle to having an Open in Delaware County was the space that would be needed for all the corporate tents and the demands for space the media makes for an event like this.

"Make no mistake about it, this is the biggest production in championship golf," said USGA vice president Tom O'Toole.

The breakthrough came when an agreement was made with Haverford College to lease a big chunk of its land where an impressive tent city is in the process of sprouting up.

The 111 acres that the golf course sits on in Haverford Township will only accommodate 25,500 spectators per day on the four tournament days. So the USGA will take a bit of a financial hit with the staging of the 2013 Open.

But to listen to USGA executive director Mike Davis tell it, overcoming the logistical roadblocks was a small price to pay to bring the Open back to a place where so much of the history of game has taken place.

"The day seven years ago when we took the final vote to come here (for the 2013 U.S. Open) was one of the best days I've had in my 23 years with the USGA," said Davis, who has climbed the ranks in the USGA from the guy who set up the championship courses to executive director mostly as a result of his innovative approach to course setups. "Merion is a treasure and architecturally it's a landmark.

"For the good of the game, we can't not come to a place like this. There's just too much history, too many significant things have happened here. It always shows up on any list of the great golf courses of the world."

"There might be more birdies here than there have been in recent U.S. Open history," he said. "But this course is all about precision. You have to be precise off the tee and precise on the approach shots. It's why there might be more players who can potentially win this U.S. Open that at most U.S. Open sites."

The defending champion certainly shares that view.

"There are a lot of intricacies at Merion that you don't always see the first time around," Simpson said. "Eleven is a perfect Merion short hole. It's maybe 350 yards with a blind tee shot and water around the green on three sides. It can be an easy hole, but if you miss the fairway and you're coming out of the rough to that green, it gets a lot tougher.

"And the last five holes are tough. There will be a lot of birdie opportunities, but when you stand on that 14th tee, you know you still have a long way home."

The history of the game is there, too.

Bobby Jones completed the calendar-year Grand Slam of his day (U.S. Open and Amateur and British Open and Amateur) by winning the U.S. Amateur at Merion in 1930. Ben Hogan completed his comeback from a near-fatal car accident a little more than a year earlier by winning the second of his four Opens at Merion in 1950. Lee Trevino beat Jack Nicklaus in a playoff in the 1971 Open.

Merion has hosted more USGA championships than any other club. The 2013 U.S. Open will be the 18th staged there.

The history of golf awaits another chapter from Merion Golf Club's East Course.